NEW DELHI: Prime Min­is­ter Naren­dra Modi lashed out at the Congress on Thurs­day, ac­cus­ing the prin­ci­pal op­po­si­tion party of dis­rupt­ing Par­lia­ment be­cause of an in­fe­ri­or­ity com­plex and jeal­ousy. In a 70-minute speech in Lok Sabha laced with sar­casm and ridicule, Modi also tar­geted Congress vice-pres­i­dent Rahul Gandhi in­di­rectly, say­ing some peo­ple grow older but “don’t be­come ma­ture”.

Modi’s at­tack on the op­po­si­tion came a day af­ter Gandhi launched a broad­side against the PM’s style of func­tion­ing and mock­ing the new black money pol­icy as a “fair and lovely yo­jana”.

The gov­ern­ment and the op­po­si­tion are en­gaged in a stand-off in Par­lia­ment and out­side over a host of is­sues in­clud­ing the sui­cide by a Dalit scholar and the sedi­tion row at the Jawa­har­lal Nehru Univer­sity ( JNU). The op­po­si­tion ac­cuses the BJP-led gov­ern­ment of curb­ing free speech and rak­ing up na­tion­al­ism to tar­get ide­o­log­i­cally op­po­site groups.

Modi, how­ever, skipped the con­tro­versy over Ro­hith’s sui­cide, Rahul’s barbs against the gov­ern­ment on its Pak­istan pol­icy and the Naga ac­cord.

“Why ( is) the House is not be­ing al­lowed t o run? Not be­cause there is anger against the gov­ern­ment but due to an in­fe­ri­or­ity com­plex,” Modi said in his re­ply to the mo­tion of thanks to the Pres­i­dent.

Modi mocked the main op­po­si­tion party in a veiled ref­er­ence to the party’s lead­er­ship.

“There are many promis­ing and bright lead­ers even in the Op­po­si­tion benches. If the House runs, they too will get chances to speak in the House. If they speak, they will earn praise and then, ‘ hamara kya hoga’ (what will hap­pen to us)?” Modi said.